Ice, Sand, Blaze, Wolf!
by Kohana Kimura
Summary: Two girls, a boy, and a wolf. All four of them suffer their whole lives, only to find out a horrible truth about themselves. They travel the world, and end up meeting in the exact same place...
1. Introductions

_**Introduction 1:**_

**Name**: Yuki Rikkida (Yuki meaning snow if you don't know)

**Gender**: Female

**Age**: 12

**Birthday**: January 21st

**Village**: Used to be Ekitai, then Suna, but now Konoha

**Family**: Hyozan Rikkida (cousin)

**Clan:** Rikkida Clan

**Squad**: Hyozan Rikkida, Violet Lopa, Lavender, Eiji

**Personality**: She can be shy at first but then when you get to know her she's really nice and may be over energetic at times. Yet, because of her past she can be very cold and distant. She'll do anything to defend and help her friends, no matter the cost. She's very hard to anger but if she does get angry, she's scary, especially with her super strength.

**Likes**: Ramen, animals, reading, swimming, being a Shinobi, snow, ice.

**Dislikes**: Summer, mean people (AKA Akatsuki, Orochimaru).

**Chakra Natures**: Water, Wind, Ice

**Special Abilities**: Her Kekkei Genkai, super strength

**Friends**: Basically everyone in Konoha and Suna

**Enemies**: People who are mean to her friends, Akatsuki, Orochimaru

**Past**: She has very sad past, sadly. You'll find out more later on! ;)

_**Introduction 2:**_

**Name:** Hyozan Rikkida

**Gender: **Male

**Age:** 12

**Birthday:** January 21st

**Village: **Used to be Ekitai, then Suna, but now Konoha

**Family:** Yuki Rikkida (cousin)

**Clan: **Rikkida Clan

**Squad:** Yuki Rikkida, Violet Lopa, Lavender, Eiji

**Personality: **He can be cold at first but then when you get to know him he's really nice but still really calm. He'll do anything to defend and help his friends, no matter the cost. He's also a bit overprotective of Yuki. He's very hard to anger but if he does get angry, he's scary. You do not want to know why.

**Likes: **Ramen, animals, reading, being a Shinobi, snow, ice.

**Dislikes: **Summer, mean people (Akatsuki, Orochimaru).

**Chakra Natures:** Water, Wind, Ice

**Special Abilities: **His Kekkei Genkai

**Friends: **Basically everyone in Konoha and Suna

**Enemies: **People who are mean to his friends, Akatsuki, Orochimaru

**Past: **He has very sad past, sadly. You'll find out more later on!

_**Introduction 3:**_

**Name:** Violet Lopa

**Gender**: Female

**Age**: 12

**Birthday**: December 14th

**Village**: Konoha

**Family**: None that she knows of

**Clan:** Lopa Clan

**Squad**: Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, Akamaru, Lavender

**Personality**: She can be shy at first but then when you get to know her she's really nice. She'll do anything to defend and help her friends, no matter the cost. She's very hard to anger but if she does get angry, she's scary as you'll learn later on.

**Likes**: Ramen, animals (especially wolves), reading, being a Shinobi.

**Dislikes**: Mean people (AKA Akatsuki, Orochimaru), people who don't like her friends

**Chakra** **Natures**: Wind

**Special** **Abilities**: Her Kekkei Genkai

**Friends**: Basically everyone in Konoha and Suna

**Enemies**: People who are mean to her friends, Akatsuki, Orochimaru

**Past**: She has very sad past, sadly. You'll find out more later on! ;)

**__****Introduction 4:**

**Name**: Lavender (Lavender's a color and a flower, in case you don't know, you BAKA!)

**Gender**: Female

**Age**: 2 (Wolf years, increases as story progresses)

**Birthday**: June 12th

**Village**: Konoha

**Family**: Violet Lopa (owner)

**Clan:** Lopa Clan

**Squad**: Hyozan Rikkida, Yuki Rikkida

**Personality**: She can be shy at first but then when you get to know her she's really nice and maybe over energetic. But because of her owner's past she is also cold and distant, even to the point of howling at her friends. She'll do anything to defend and help her friends, no matter the cost. She's very hard to anger but if she does get angry, she's scary, especially with her really sharp fangs and claws.

**Likes**: Animals, being a Ninja wolf, the color purple.

**Dislikes**: People who don't like animals, mean people (Akatsuki, Orochimaru).

**Chakra Natures**: Wind, Fire, Water

**Special Abilities**: Lopa Clan Kekkei Genkai

**Friends**: Basically everyone in Konoha and Suna

**Enemies**: People who are mean to her friends, Akatsuki, Orochimaru, people who don't like hate wolves.

**Past**: She has a very sad past, sadly. You'll find out more later on!

**__****Introduction 5:**

**Name**: Eiji (Eiji means great, peace if you don't know)

**Gender**: Male

**Age**: 26 (increases as story progresses)

**Birthday**: Mars 15th

**Village**: Used to be Oto, but now Konoha

**Family**: Yamato (adoptive brother)

**Clan:** Unknown

**Squad**: Hyozan Rikkida, Yuki Rikkida, Violet Lopa, Lavender

**Personality**: He's a very calm and casual guy. He's actually an ex-ANBU member, so he's very good at planning and strategizing. Since he was part of the ANBU and unlike Kakashi, he isn't the I'll-take-care-of-you-no-matter-what kind of guy. He doesn't get angered very easily but he can be very scary indeed when he is angry.

**Likes:** Animals, reading, being a Shinobi, wood, nature.

**Dislikes**: Pollution, enemies (Akatsuki, Orochimaru).

**Chakra Natures**: Water, Earth, Wood

**Special Abilities**: His Kekkei Genkai

**Friends**: Basically everyone in Konoha and Suna

**Enemies**: Enemies (Akatsuki, Orochimaru)

**Past**: Orochimaru used him, just like Yamato. He was one of the few to survive the implant of the First Hokage's DNA to be able to use the Wood kekkei genkai. Since he and Yamato suffered through the same thing together, they became best friends instantly and soon enough, adoptive brothers.


	2. Prologues

**Lopa Prologue**

There was once a room full of people and wolves. All of these people had midnight black hair and many had bits and pieces of various colors in their hair; their eyes a matching color with their hair. Wolves stood faithfully next to them, quiet as they knew how important this event was to their masters. These weren't the Summoning wolves, with which you had to sign a contract before being able to summon them. These were actual wolves that didn't 'poof' away any time they wanted. They would always stay next to their masters. Having that many in one place standing quietly was quite an accomplishment, though it was something very usual for these people who trained and lived with wolves for their living.

"I have to do this," said a pregnant woman, breaking the silence. She stood in the center, her black hair with the little strips of baby pink here and there falling around her lovely heart shaped face. Her soft strawberry pink eyes, the one that makes anyone feel loved when they looked into them, were full of determination. Determination to do something important.

"It is my purpose to do this in order to save thy clan and watch Louva," The woman said as she panted with the effort of carrying a child. She started sweating, soaking the back of her coral-colored kimono. She sat down, out of breath, as someone behind her talked quietly.

"Rose, thee needn't to do this!" A man said, grasping the breathless woman in his muscular and protective arms. He had deep marine blue eyes with pitch black hair and a tuff of sky blue on the top of his head. "Isn't there another child? Why must we do this? Why must we suffer so? Why us?" He asked urgently and desperately as he looked around in search of another pregnant woman that wasn't the frail one in his strong and caring arms.

"I am terribly sorry Sky, but only our little girl here is available." The woman he had called Rose said as she broke free of her lover's arms and started caressing her stomach lovingly. Silently, she put her hand on a man who was on his death bed, lying in the center of the silent and sorrowful crowd. Rose closed her eyes and started chanting words quietly that everyone in the room knew the effect of. A black cloud of chakra soon rose from the man, killing him instantly, and entered Rose's womb. Her eyes stared off into space as she stumbled and fell backwards, right back into Sky's arms.

"Our child now possesses Louva... I love thee..." Rose said as she lay in her lover's arms to enjoy her last moments of life, her eyes slowly losing their glint of happiness as she slipped off to heaven.

"Rose..." Sky sobbed as he picked up the child that Rose had given birth to in her last minute on Earth. He immediately noticed that his now daughter had soft lilac eyes, snow white skin, and little pale pink lips. His daughter didn't even cry like most children. It was as if she knew about the event that had just taken place and the sorrow that it brought to her family.

"Her name shall be Violet." Sky decided quietly, handing his daughter to an old woman. "Okasan, thee shall take care of Violet and I shall stay within the Lopa clan. Tell Violet that her parents died in an accident, and do not tell her about the demon." Sky said as he picked up Rose in his arms, and cried over her deathly white, cold body. "Rose... Why?" Sky asked in a choked whisper as he looked up to the ceiling, hoping that Rose, up there in heaven, would somehow answer him.

"I will follow my own son's orders, and Violet shall know nothing of our world full of shinobi." The old woman who was handed Violet decided. "She will find out on her own though, but I predict that she will not be shocked to find the truth of her life." She said as she walked out of the room, leaving behind the quiet and somber people with their faithful wolves. Many of them knew that what had happened was an event that happened every generation, but many were sad to see Rose go.

"At least her wonderful daughter will return to our clan someday." Many of them thought as they left to mourn for the dead woman and man.

**_Rikkida Prologue:_**

It was a pleasant and sunny summer evening, the season that Yuki despised the most. The day might have been nice and warm to most, but not to her. The air was full of heat; the horrible temperature that melted snow. Snow; it was the wonderful substance that was pure white and pale blue at times. A mixture of white and blue mixed so well together it breaks one's heart with just a glance.

Solid yet liquid; weak yet sturdy; it was so many opposites at the same time. On the other hand, there was warmth. The horrible heat that radiated off nearly everything in this world. It kills snow; it murders ice. It makes people feel better, to feel loved, but it does not work that way with Yuki. The feeling of heat may make someone feel cozy during winter or safe at home, but not for her. Warmth to her was no more than another enemy that she despised.

Yuki adored her namesake. Even from a very young age, whenever it snowed, she would stumble out of the Rikkida compound to play in the cool white powder. You may find it strange, as young children always enjoy the coziness of the love of parents. But Yuki wasn't one of those children. Yet she would never do anything without Hyozan, her favorite cousin. The two children, being from the Rikkida clan, were always surrounded by cold. Snow, ice, it was always anything that's liquid.

This snow-loving girl is the daughter of the Head of the Clan, and his name was Hisame Rikkida. Even though she loved her cousin Hyozan very much, he on the other hand pretended to hate Yuki without her knowing. Deep down, he admired Yuki. He was the same age as Yuki, so when she was started training her kekkei genkai, Hyozan was always with her.

Hyozan's grandfather was Yuki's grandfather's younger brother by a year. But since Yuki's grandfather was born first, he was part of the main branch while Hyozan's grandfather was reduced to a side branch. Yuki had always thought that Hyozan was very strong. On the other hand though, _Hyozan_ could clearly see that _her_ kekkei genkai, even if it wasn't as strong, was very developed, much more than his own. What he was trying to say was that at just 5 years of age, Yuki was already creating her own jutsus, while he was still using the jutsus that were taught to him.

Ever since Yuki learned how to control her chakra by herself, she's been developing her own ninjutsus that no one in the Rikkida clan knew, not even Hyozan. One of them was called Ice Mirrors, which Yuki used both as defense and as Yuki used this jutsu, big panels of ice formed and 'watched' the enemy's movements. The panels of ice then copied the offense they received and sent it back to the attacker. It was quite useful for capture too. There were no blind spots and only Yuki could see through the ice panels, so she could see everything that was going on while all anyone else saw was their reflection in the panels of ice. Ice Mirrors is a bit like the Sharingan, but it could only 'remember' justus from the present fight and not previous ones like the Sharingan. To increase her chances of winning, Yuki usually surrounded her enemy with panels forming a cage of ice that no one could break through unless she herself released the jutsu.

Another move that Yuki invented was Ice Snow Showers. What it did was take the humidity in the atmosphere, form un-meltable ice, and start assaulting the enemy. It can also be used as a form of giant ice pack if someone is hurt as Yuki can choose it's form and effects on people. One of her favorite medical ninjutsu that she invented was called Healing Snow. What Yuki did was form snow over someone's injured body and the chakra infused in the snow would heal the wounded. It was very useful when she wanted to take care of her injured friends during a battle.

Yuki also made an effort to invent Genjutsu. After months and months of hard work, she came up with her own Genjutsu that she named Ice Panel Illusion. When Yuki used this, she would form a panel of ice and whoever looked into it would see and feel what they would fear the most happen to them. They would live through the experience while in real they're just standing there frozen in fear.

Yet all this hard work never permitted Yuki to achieve her goal, which was earning her father and her cousin's respect. She may not know it, but she already had her beloved cousin's respect. She was also a very independent and hard working girl, so she never gave up on her goals, until the fateful day when her worst nightmare became reality. She felt as if she was trapped within her own genjutsu, the Ice Panel Illusion, where the victim lived through their worst fear.


	3. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Violet Lopa**

On a bright Friday morning, a young girl, around 12 or 13 years old with a pale skin, dark black hair and slight highlights of various shades of purple here and there, walked into a school building, holding a map that had clearly been folded over and over again and schedule tightly in her hands. She was all alone as she walked past the many marine blue metal lockers on the way to her new homeroom.

As she walked in, a male teacher welcomed her inside casually. The teacher had chocolate brown hair that was clearly not groomed recently. He wore thick black glasses that he held in his left hand as he inspected her. His single mocha brown eye and bright red eye looked at her carefully before nodding in approval. All of the other students turned around in their seats to look at her with curiosity shining brightly in their eyes, as they wanted to know more about this mysterious new student.

"Everyone, listen up. We're going to have a new student, her name is Violet Lopa." The teacher said calmly, yet no one made a sound. Violet walked towards the teacher at the front of the class shyly, afraid of all these new children. "Violet, I am Eiji, just Eiji, but you may call me Eiji-sensei."

Violet nodded and turned around, her black and purple hair flying around her, letting everyone see her soft and lovely lilac eyes. Though she may seem to be lovely day in and day out, she was still a strong and tough girl who loved animals very much. She was actually a very good fighter at martial arts, so better not make her mad.

The new girl also had a very sensitive nose and ears. Violet used that nose of her to smell everyone's scent and her ears to hear their every single movement. Just by their scent, she could tell they were curious to see what she turned out to be like. And by the noise the students were making, Violet could hear that they were shuffling around, turning around to scan the room and see where the new student would sit. Violet gave them all one of her cute little smiles and turned to the teacher.

"Eiji-sensei, where does thee recommend I sit?" She said formally in her very cute voice, as was her whole life's habit. Some girls in the class started getting jealous of her sweet voice while some boys started falling for this new girl.

"You can sit there next to Kiba Inuzuka." Eiji said as he pointed towards where Kiba sat, surprised that such a young child as Violet could have such developed vocabulary. His students' reactions were really not unusual to him but it was still funny to watch them like that.

Violet moved towards the seat next to Kiba and sat down shyly. She wasn't used to sitting next to boys. Especially not ones with red fang tattoos on their face who were taking naps in the middle of class. But as she sniffed him, she could smell that he also seemed to be around animals like she did. Violet was indeed intrigued with this boy, he seemed like a potential person to become her friend.

Kiba stared at the new girl. Using his sensitive nose, he learned that she loved to be around animals, just like he did. He also smelled something else that was worrying him. Could it be the 8-legged wolf demon that Lady Tsunade had sent him, Akamaru, Hinata, and Shino to look for? If it was, did this girl know she had a demon inside her? What would her reaction be if she found out?

As Violet sat down next to him, Kiba could feel her sniffing him too, just as he had done. It had to be the 8 legged wolf demon!

"Hey, nice to meet you." Kiba said casually, lifting up his head from his napping position as he was napping before dear Mika-sensei, note the sarcasm, had so rudely interrupted his wonderful nap. "As you might know, I'm Kiba Inuzuka."

"Hello," Violet said, holding out her hand for a handshake, which Kiba held and shook really hard, nearly shaking Violet's arm off. "Well, I am Violet Lopa." She said, smiling a little though she had started to feel pains in her arm, Kiba sure was strong.

"Cool," Kiba said, putting his arm down after his crazy handshake. "Oh sorry, did I hurt your arm? I'm sorry. By the way, do you have any pets?"

"Don't worry about my arm." Violet said, lowering to a whisper as Eiji-sensei started talking again to explain something. "I actually do have a pet, I have a wolf, her name is Lavender."

'_So, it _is_ the 8 legged wolf demon!_' Kiba thought before smiling at his new friend that clearly liked animals just as much as he did.

"That's nice, I also have a pet," Kiba whispered back, thinking of Akamaru. "His name is Akamaru, he's just a dog. But a very faithful one I tell you!"

Violet smiled back at Kiba, glad to have been able to make friends, which she wasn't always lucky enough to do since many people always despised her for some various reasons that were unknown.

_Violet's Flashback_

_ "Hello little wolf," 7-year-old Violet said, crouching down and smiling at a little pitch black wolf with purple eyes, just like hers. The kind wolf seemed to be drawn to her, and it also seemed sad and lost._

_ "Hey everyone!" A popular girl shouted out from behind Violet, startling her and scaring the little wolf into running away, which made Violet crestfallen. "Lookie here! Our little purple flower smarty-pants is playing with a wolf! I wonder where she kidnapped that wolf. I hope it eats her."_

_ "What a creep! Playing with wolves!" Another girl shouted, pulling Violet's hair sharply, forcing Violet to stand up. "She even dyes her hair to match her name! She's so obsessed with the color purple! No wonder that wolf had purple eyes, she probably made it wear contacts to change it's eye color!"_

_ "T-that's n-not t-true!" Violet said, stuttering, as she was scared. She quickly broke free and hid under a tree, disappearing from view right in front of the mean girls without her knowing what she had just done._

_End of Flashback_

What Violet didn't know is that she could control shadows at her will. But she soon used that skill to escape bullies from various schools that she had attended.

"Pay attention everyone!" Eiji said to Kiba who started napping again. "In your table groups, you will have to write a short story about whatever you want. Any genre is fine."

"Do you know about ninjas?" Kiba asked, facing Violet. He was dying to write about ninjas, since he was one. Of course, he would have to write about the stereotypical ones, but it was till just about the same wasn't it?

"In fact, I do," Violet said, nodding. She didn't like to show it but she loved reading manga and watching anime. "I read a lot of manga and I enjoy watching anime. Shall we write about ninjas?"

"Sure!" Kiba said, glad to be able to write about something he knew much of. More than anyone would think.

~An Hour Later~

"Okay kids," Eiji said calmly, signaling the end of class. "You are dismissed, you may head home! Good bye and have a nice week end."

Violet silently packed her things and left, as she was lost in her thoughts. Doing so, she was forgetting one of her notebooks, which had drawings of Lavender all over. Seeing a good way to befriend this demon-possessed girl, Kiba quickly grabbed the notebook and followed Violet out the door.

"Hey! Violet-chan!" Violet heard from behind her. She turned around swiftly to see a running Kiba waving her notebook in his hand. "You forgot this!" He yelled, cupping his free hand around his mouth to try to make his voice louder.

"Oh, thank you Kiba-kun." Violet said, putting her things in her locker and keeping her backpack with her school supplies for homework such as notebooks. Suddenly, she got a tremendous idea.

"Hey Kiba-kun," She said, holding him back by the arm as he turned and started walking away. "Do you want to meet Lavender? You know, my wolf."

"That'll be great!" Kiba said grinning from ear to ear. "I'll introduce Akamaru to you too then. Let me introduce you to Hinata and Shino before though. They're really nice, don't worry about making friends with them."

"Okay, if you insist." Violet said, following Kiba through the hallways. She was a bit disappointed that Kiba didn't sound super excited but was still excited herself to see some new people. Kiba ran in front of her, meeting with a shy-looking girl and a weird guy with his face half hidden who was wearing sunglasses and with a beetle in his hand.

"I found the 8 legs." Kiba whispered to them before beckoning Violet over. "Violet, meet Hinata. Hinata, Violet." Kiba said, introducing the shy girl to Violet. Violet noticed her hair also had a little purple tinge to it, just like her own. How interesting.

"That dude over there is Shino." Kiba said, pointing to the guy with the hidden face who just simply nodded in their direction before returning to his examination of a beetle in his hand.

"Hello everyone." Violet shyly, wishing for Lavender's company, which had reassured her so many times before. Violet never felt comfortable around strangers. "I'll introduce you to Lavender, my wolf best friend."

"_Kiba's right. It is the 8-Legged Wolf. Well, who else could become friends with wolves so easily anyways?_" Hinata thought as Violet whistled a few notes. Out of the shadows sprang a big black wolf with purple eyes. It immediately scampered over towards Violet and licked her hand lovingly.

"_She even already knows how to unconsciously control the shadows, just like Lady Tsunade warned us. She will be a strong opponent if we ever have to fight her!_" Hinata thought using her Byakugan to look at Violet and Lavender's chakra levels. "_Both Violet and Lavender seem harmless. That's good. They don't even know they're using chakra right now._" She thought as she let Kiba and Shino know it was safe.

"Lavender, meet Kiba-kun, Hinata-chan, and Shino-kun. They're my new friends." Violet said, patting the wolf on the head softly. Lavender went over to sniff them and found a liking in Kiba, who seemed to know canines well.

"Hey there Lavender!" Kiba said, getting down on one knee and petting Lavender. "Meet Akamaru!" He said as he called for Akamaru. Akamaru sprang out of the bushes, he was bigger than Violet expected. Akamaru was nearly big enough to ride, but Lavender was still bigger. Akamaru barked at Lavender as a canine hello and Lavender wolf-barked back.

"Seems like they like each other," Kiba said, smiling. Being an Inuzuka, he understood canines pretty well and it was out of habit to translate for them.

"Wait, you also understand them?" Violet said, astonished. "I'm usually the only one who can understand what canines are saying!"

"Uh," Kiba said uneasily. He couldn't declare just there that he was a shinobi along with Akamaru. Neither could he say he came from Konoha looking for the 8-legged wolf.

"H-his family m-members are v-vets." Hinata said, saving Kiba a lot of explaining. "T-they're always around c-canines and other animals."

"I see," Violet said understandingly. She didn't want to have any more surprises that maybe, just maybe, meant she wasn't the only one in the world with strange powers.

**_Chapter 1: The Fall of The Rikkida_**

Yuki headed back inside to eat dinner after a few hours of practicing her jutsus with Hyozan. Both of them had recently gotten their Toketsu ninja headbands, which looked like any other except the symbol was a very intricate snowflake that had seven arms and each arm broke into three twice.

The dinner that Yuki's mother had made was some home made pork and miso ramen, which both Yuki and Hyozan found was very delicious. After eating around three bolls of ramen, Yuki got up, thanked her mother for the meal, and went outside to train again on her own. Since she felt like she would need medical ninjutsu soon, she was planning on trying to create some new kind of medical ninjutsu other than Healing Snow.

It was around 10 PM when Yuki finally headed back inside to go to bed. After doing her evening routines before going to bed, she thought she smelled something funny and weird; something that suspiciously smelled like smoke. She went to her front yard only to be blasted with blistering heat.

The instant Yuki walked near the fire, she surrounded with a protective bubble of water. Water, snow, and ice protected her, and Yuki didn't know why. In fact, no one did. Walking around to see what was happening, Yuki nearly cried out in pain and sorrow. Right in front of her, was her father with a long and thin katana through his heart.

"Otosan!" She yelled, running over towards him. "What happened to you?" She asked, her voice full of worry as she picked her father's head and rested it on her lap. "Wait a bit, let me heal you."

"No, there's no time, darling. There are Sound Ninjas attacking Ekitai, and they're lead by Orochimaru." Hisame Rikkida said slowly as he was losing his strength. "But before you leave me, there's something I need to tell you, my darling daughter."

"What is it Otosan?" Yuki asked, softening her voice, as she knew that sadly, her father's time had come. "Please don't die!"

"Orochimaru... might be... looking... for you..." Hisame said using the last of his strength to deliver this precious information to her daughter. It was the least he could do in his state to ensure his daughter's survival. "You need... go to Sunagakure... Land of the Wind... find friend of mine... the Kazekage... his son about your age... Or Konohagakure... Land of Fire... I also have some contacts there..."

"No... Don't die yet... Otosan..." Yuki said, knowing her father's life had come to an end. As she thought of her father's instructions, Yuki took the water out of the earth in one area causing the earth to collapse in itself. It formed a crater a few feet deep and a few feet wide; just about the size of a big coffin. Then, Yuki enveloped her father in an indestructible box of ice with the symbol of the Toketsu shinobi on it, and buried him in the crevice she had just created. She packed the earth back where it belonged, took a slab of rock and slowly and neatly carved out:

_Hisame Rikkida_

_Ekitai, Toketsu_

_Good father to his daughter, Yuki Rikkida_

When Yuki had finished mourning for her father's death and for the death of many of her family members, she left to find more survivors if there were any, always keeping herself in her bubble of water. She couldn't stand to see the death of another loved one and searched frantically for survivors. There must be someone; there simply _must_ be someone!

Yuki walked around and scanned the area for survivors frantically with her pale blue eyes. All she saw were burned down buildings and the corpses of many of her friends and family members. Ashes were everywhere making the once green landscape turn into a dark murky black and grey. Clouds of smoke rose from many buildings that were being razed to the ground by the bright red flames that had spread quickly throughout the village.

As was said before, the Rikkida clan mostly occupied Ekitai, so Yuki knew nearly everyone who had died, even if it was just by looks. There were cousins, second cousins, third cousins, distant relatives, etc. Yuki mourned for all those who had died in her home village, including strangers. At that point though, Yuki thought she heard her name. She stopped moving moving and listened very carefully as she sharpened her hearing with chakra and paid very close attention to anything she heard. First, she only heard buildings collapse, wood burning, and people crying from the loss of loved ones. But then she heard something new.

"Yu...ki..." Came a very familiar voice calling for her. Who's voice was it? She just couldn't place her finger on it. "Yu... ki... over... here..."

"Hyozan!" Yuki exclaimed, finally grasping who it was. Her beloved cousin was alive! "Where are you? Wait, never mind, don't lose your strength calling me. Use a bit of your chakra as a signal to me so that I can pinpoint where you are." Yuki demanded. Soon after, she felt a faint bit of chakra rise north-east from her and she started racing through the streets only to find her cousin nearly buried under a pile of stones.

"Water Style: Water Prison!" Yuki said as she formed the hand signs. A bubble of water immediately encircled Hyozan, freeing him of the stones, and released him in front of Yuki as the bubble disassembled. It's true that the Water Prison was usually used for capture but Yuki liked personalizing the various jutsus she learned. She immediately started inspecting Hyozan's injuries. The majority of them were pretty severe. There were broken or cracked bones, big bruises and more, causing Hyozan to be unconscious. Having spent his energy calling for help was also a factor of his unconsciousness.

"Ninja Art: Medical Ninjutsu: Healing Snow!" Yuki whispered, forming the needed hand signs for her own ninjutsu. She touched Hyozan's injuries one by one and snow started to fall and covered Hyozan in a soft white blanket. The instant the snow touched him Hyozan opened his eyes and gasped for air. It was clear that the black smoke that had risen from many buildings in Ekitai choked him and his lungs were screaming for fresh oxygen.

"Yuki!" Hyozan said as he looked around for his savior and was astonished to see Yuki there. "How did you survive the attack? Were you even there?"

"Well, I smelled smoke so I headed out of our compound." Yuki started as she continued to take care of Hyozan's many injuries. "When I walked out of our compound, a bubble of water just surrounded me and protected me. The fire was extinguished the second it touched my bubble of water."

"That is very impressive, Yuki." Hyozan said smiling. "Thank goodness you're alive!"

"Sure, sure." Yuki said, not really listening to Hyozan's comments on her skills. "If I wasn't alive, you wouldn't be either though."

"By the way, where's Uncle Hisame?" Hyozan asked changing the subject. As soon as he saw the look on Yuki's young face, he started fearing the worst had happened. "Don't tell me that..._that_ happened!?"

"If by that you mean death, then...yes. Dad... died." Yuki said with tears in her eyes at the thought of him. "I buried him myself in a box of indestructible ice."

"Uncle... Uncle Hisame... _died_?" Hyozan said, his voice full of sorrow and surprise as to how a strong shinobi as him could die. "At least you gave him the burial of a true shinobi. You're a good daughter."

"Don't worry about it now," Yuki said as she hugged her cousin's body close to hers. She felt the same pain he did, and even worse as Hisame was her father. "Why don't we just take you to a hospital or something? My snow won't heal you completely. Dad said we should go to the Land of Wind or the Land of Fire. Let's go to the land of Wind, it's more like our own style isn't it?"

"Sure is," Hyozan said as he fell into the dark world unconsciousness again.


End file.
